At the end of the first decade of the 20th century, the upsurge in the growth of mineral traffic in the North-East exceeded the amount of steam haulage available to transport it. The existing North Eastern Q5 locomotives, designed by Wilson Worsdell, were extremely capable engines but the new Chief Mechanical Officer, Vincent Raven, felt a more powerful, superheated design would be justified in the circumstances.

Between February 1913 and March 1921, 120 examples of Raven’s new T2 eight-coupled locomotive were built, in six batches, resulting in a powerful, sturdy and reliable engine design that fulfilled its requirement to haul mineral and heavy freight traffic, right through to late 1967. The first seventy were built at Darlington, with the last batch of fifty being constructed by Armstrong Whitworth & Co. of Newcastle.